Benchmarks continue to trade in red in late morning session

After gap down opening, Indian equity benchmarks showed some strength in early morning trades, but the sentiments turned pessimistic in late morning trades on sustained selling by participants in recent outperformers, mostly of a profit-booking nature. Besides, there will be some cautiousness with report that India’s engineering exports to China declined nearly 50% to $310 million in the month of October against $612 million in the same month of previous year due to the prevailing slowdown in China’s economy. The sentiments were distrustful after rupee lost against the dollar on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. Sentiments weakened further on report that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 109.45 crore on December 05, 2014. However, losses remained capped as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body which should be structured to meet the need of changing economic paradigm and comprise sectoral experts and states' representative. Some support also came in from reports that that the government would be evaluating 31 foreign investment proposals, including those of Ratnakar Bank, Novartis Healthcare and HDFC Bank among others in the coming week.

On the sectoral front, stocks from Realty, FMCG and PSU counters were supporting the markets’ uptrend, while those from information technology (IT), Capital Goods and Metal counters were adding to the underlying cautious undertone. In scrip specific development, shares of Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India) have surged after the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary has received an extension of contract for its accommodation barge Vikrant. Furthermore, Thermax rose after the company has won an order worth Rs 351 crore in Africa to build and commission a captive power plant.

On global front, Asian equities were mixed following disappointing data but China's benchmark index rose to a three-year high on expectations of further stimulus. Meanwhile, Oil prices fell more than a dollar and approached a five-year low hit early this month after Morgan Stanley cut its price forecast for Brent crude, saying oversupply will likely peak next year with OPEC deciding not to cut output.  Back home, the market breadth on BSE was positive, out of 2231 stocks traded, 1164 stocks advanced, while 980 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 28398.92 down by 59.18 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 28494.85 and 28375.54. There were 16 stocks advancing against 14 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.23%, while Small cap index up by 0.32%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.07%, FMCG up by 0.55%, PSU up by 0.26%, Power up by 0.16% and Auto up by 0.08% while, IT down by 2.15%, TECK down by 1.51%, Capital Goods down by 0.30%, Metal down by 0.05% and Infrastructure down by 0.05% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Coal India up by 2.08%, Sun Pharma up by 1.47%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.37%, HDFC up by 1.18% and Tata Power up by 1.06%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.23%, TCS down by 2.13%, Sesa Sterlite down by 1.74%, Hindalco down by 1.38% and Dr. Reddys Lab down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in a move to replace Soviet-style central Planning Commission with a 'Team India' concept, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has stated that Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body which should be structured to meet the need of changing economic paradigm and comprise sectoral experts and states' representative. Narendra Modi held a brainstorming session on December 7 and most chief ministers favored restructuring of the Planning Commission, but there was no consensus on disbanding the existing set-up.

The government is looking at a structure which will have the Prime Minister, some Cabinet ministers and some chief ministers along with technocrats and experts in various fields. The new institution would have functions including monitoring and evaluation, programme project and scheme evaluation, cross-sectoral and inter-ministerial expertise and appraisal and monitoring of projects. Besides, the new body should act as think-tank and have network with universities and could provide internal consultancy services to states and the Centre on different matters.

Earlier in June, the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) has recommended the government to abolish the Planning Commission and constitute Reform and Solution Commission as a government think tank through an Act of Parliament. The IEO had noted that Plan Panel is susceptible to pressures from the PMO and exceeds the scope of its authority which leads to partial treatment in allocation of resources amongst the states. Further, Panning Commission consist mostly IAS officer having less domain knowledge, making the panel structure same as central ministries in way of its administration.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8522.05 down by 16.25 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 8546.35 and 8514.00. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were DLF up by 2.26%, Coal India up by 2.09%, Asian Paints up by 2.05%, Zee Entertainment up by 1.58% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.43%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 3.41%, TCS down by 2.22%, HCL Tech down by 1.92%, Hindalco down by 1.87% and Sesa Sterlite down by 1.70% were the top losers.

Asian markets too have turned mixed after mostly a green start, Nikkei 225 was up by 0.06%, Shanghai Composite gained 1.42%, Hang Seng surged by 0.36%. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite lost 0.68%, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined by 0.44%, KOSPI Index was down by 0.41%, Taiwan Weighted was lower by 0.17% and Straits Times declined by 0.05%.